Radio
signals
are not, as is commonly thought, recent phenomena. Nature has spoken
through
radio signals since the origins of the Universe. Radio Nature is
fascinating
look at these signals, a guide to receiving and analysing them.

Radio
Nature
describes these strange signals coming from our own planet and beyond.
There is information about tweeks, insects, whistlers, choruses and
even
flying saucers (nothing to do with spaceships). Readers are provided
with
details of artificial and false signals that can confuse the natural
radio
listener. For the more committed there are designs for simple receiving
equipment and antennas along with guides to how you can use simple
receiving
equipment to hear natural radio. The book also explains how to try to
predict
storms and even earthquakes using the signals that can be captured.

Radio
Nature
is truly a book for all. If you are a beginner the book opens up a
fascinating
area for you. For the more committed this provides a comprehensive
guide
to natural radio and useful reference work.

This book is dedicated to the memory of the late
Ezio Mognaschi, 1940-2006:Friend, research partner, and professor of
Physics at Pavia University,Italy

ABOUT THE
BOOK
CONTENTS

In a highly technological
age, such as the time we now live in, we are surroundedby many electronic devices,
which manage the even most basic everydayoperations, where they can
be useless or useful. We are so used to this presence,so we consider it part of
the environment we see every morning on waking up.Telecommunication development
is certainly one of the main focal points ofthis revolution: from
telephones
to radio communications, from Internet tosatellite navigation, from
TV to space explorations with Earth controlled probes;there is no doubt that the
single human’s horizon is much larger. It is clear thatwe are connected in real
time to everything that happens on our planet. We stillhave to see how much this
can help improve our self knowledge. We will letphilosophers and sociologists
consider that.

After all this is said,
the
idea of listening to natural radio signals - those thatare not emitted by a man
standing somewhere, or a radio speaker or a modem -leaves us a little
disorientated.
Today, when we talk about radio signals, we meanthe TV, radio, mobile phones,
remote controls, or other communication systemslinked to something
technological.Nature gives us a powerful
device, the radio signal, to observe what is aroundus. We must be careful not
to forget that most of the advanced knowledge we havetoday about the universe
comes from observations done with radio telescopes, andnot with observations in
an optical field.

Even our planet is a radio
signal source, mainly at low frequencies: every oneof us has, at one time,
listened
to crackly radio noises on the medium wave duringa storm! Different natural
phenomena such as Auroras, earthquakes and stormscreate radio signals and
these signals can be studied with very simple and cheapdevices. The particular sound
of these signals makes them unique and veryfascinating. They deserve
a precise definition: “Radio Nature”.Unfortunately, the advanced
technology which is in all of our houses has itsbad side: many of the objects
we use are so complex and contain so many hours ofscientific research that
they become “black boxes” and we use only the finalfunctions. In a mobile phone,
for instance, we only use a set of fifteen buttons andwe have no idea of what
happens
inside it; if we were to be transported suddenlyonto a desert island, we
would never be able to make one of them, but then even aseller or a constructor,
or a repairman would not be able to make one the thesedevices.

It couldn’t be different!
We’ve lost the direct physical contact with whatsurrounds us. We just have
to think of the objects that meant technology for ourgrandparents. Let’s think
of the old wooden cuckoo wall-clock, very complicatedand full of cogs. What
happened
inside the clock was directly visible; springs,cogs, mechanical movements;
no micro-technology, no software or programrelease versions.It seems like scientific
research by the individual belongs to the past or that itis possible only in
hyper-technological
environments; thankfully this is not true!The availability of very
cheap, but powerful devices, such as the computer, makespossible today home
experiments
that once were done only in university settingswhere financial support was
available. The contents of this book will show howthis is now possible.

This book was born from
the
experience of an amateur radio operator, whovery quickly diverted from
long distance communication (DX) to the study ofRadio Nature. The following
pages include a description of these signals, anexplanation of how they
originate
and how to build a receiving station.Whilst describing the
physical
environment where these signals develop andpropagate, I will mention
other kinds of emissions which are not really “natural”.For instance, signals
generated
from the mains network (better known aselectromagnetic pollution
in ELF band) or very low frequency emissions forsubmerged submarines etc.
I will describe how these emissions originate and howto recognize them when they
are received.

This book doesn’t pretend
to be a complete tutorial about naturallyoriginating radio signals.
Every subject covered in this book could fill anotherbook. There are very deep
academic studies about these topics, done byresearchers who dedicate
their existences to this activity. Internet technologyenables us to access these
publications at any time and from home.The objective of this book
is to offer a panoramic view of this fascinatingsubject, support for those
who have no knowledge of this subject and yet, at thesame time, do not wish to
spend months in reading scientific books in an attemptgain an understanding. To
this end we will talk about the main sources, and thepropagation of natural radio
signals, by simplifying, sometimes with simpleanalogies, the more
complicated
concepts, which are at the foundation of the birthof these signals. For this
reason, I have chosen not to include mathematicalequations to explain these
physical phenomena: the very few formulas used arevery simple and they have
a practical use during the listening and the study of therecording.

The undoubted fascination
of these signals, together with their very clear wayof originating, have
attracted
the attention of particular type of “scientific”thought. The resemblance
of some signals to human moans and to spectralwhistles, have done the rest.
For this reason some people have connected thesesignals to extraterrestrial
beings and to thought transmission from this to anotherworld; who wouldn’t like
to have such experience? It is certain that every time weapproach a new topic, we
should have no prejudice, especially when we do nothave much information about
the subject!There is, however, a very
big difference between having an open mind andhaving the strong wish to
believe in something in what we want to believe.In this book we don’t talk
about spirits or extraterrestrial contacts, nortelepathy: after dozens of
years of recording there is no certain proof about “life”after death. Does this make
the subject rational and boring? Not when youapproach a subject in a
scientific
way, in this case the reality can be more excitingthan fantasy!